Improvement in condensers



'UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

ADDISON O. FLETCHER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN CONDNSERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent-NQ. l18,710, dated July l1, 1865.

.steam and effecting the condensation of such steam for the return of its water to the boiler 5 Y and I do hereby declare that the followingis a -full, clear, and exact description of the same,

reference bein g had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part of this specification, in whichv Figures land 2 are vertical sections at right angles to eachl other of an apparatus constructed according to my invention.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding vparts in both figures.

This invention relates to apparatus in which the heat is abstracted from the exhaust-steam. escaping from an engine by means of a forced circulation of air over the surfaces of radiators into which the steam is introduced, the object being to condense the steam for the return of its water to the boiler and to utilize the heat abstracted in effecting such condensation as a means of heatin g air to be supplied to the boiler-furnace to promote the combustion of the fuel, or for any other purpose for which heated air may be required or desired.

In carrying out my invention I use a series of upright sheet-radiators connected with one common inlet-pipe for the steam and one com mon outlet-pipe for the water of condensation and inclosed within abox or case through which the air is drawn by means of a fan or other blowing device, which also drives it to the ash-pit or fire-chamber ofthe furnace, or to where it is required to be used; and my invention consists in a novel arrangement of the connection of the fan or blowing apparatus, and ofthe airnlet openings, whereby a more rapid and better distributed circulation ot' air over the surface ofthe radiators is obtained.

To enable others to construct and use my invention,I will proceed to describe it with reference tothe drawings. p

A A are sheet-iron radiators, made of dat form, placed upright side by side, and very near together, within an oblong box or case, B, which may be made of iron, wood, or brickwork. rIhese radiators are severally connected at one end, near the top, to a steam-box,

C, into which the exhaust-steam is delivered through the pipe D, and connected at the other end, near the bottom, to the water-box E, in which the Water of condensation is collected from the several radiators, to be carried through a pipe, F, to any suitable receptacle, from which it is returned to the boiler at as high a temperature as practicable. The bottom of the boxB' is provided with a suflicient number of openings, a a, arranged' parallel with the radiators, for the ingress of the cold air, which is drawn into the box by a fan-blower, G, the inlet-opening O of which is connected by a pipe, H, with an outlet-opening, b, in the center of the top of the box, and the outletopening p of which leads to the furnace or other place where the heated air is to be used. The steam circulates within the radiators, as indicated by red arrows in Fig. 1, and the air, circulating upward, as indicated by black arrows, all over the surfaces of the radiators, abstracts the heat from and condenses the steam and becomes heated by the heat so abstracted as it rises toward the outlet b of the box.

It is desirable, in order to condense steam successfully by means of air, to have an extremely rapid circulation of air over the surfaces of the radiators, and by the arrangement of the inlet air-openings et in the bottom of the box and the outlet air-openings b at the top thereof the natural tendency to upward circulation to which the air is subject by becoming heated is taken advantage of and made to accelerate the velocity of its upward transit through the box and the blowing apparatus, rendering the apparatus having such an ar rangement of inlet and outlet air-openings much more effective than an apparatus on a similar principle having the openings at the ends and a horizontal circulation of the air.

It is not absolutely necessary that the up rightradiators be arranged side by side and parallel with each other, as represented'in theV drawings, as the same results might be obtained by radiators arranged in vertical positions having a different horizontal relation to each other when such radiators are arranged as described in relation to the air inlets and outlets of their inclosiug box or case.

The air heated by this apparatus may be forced into lthe furnace either below thegrate, to promote the combustion of fuel, or above the grate, to mix with and infiame the gaseous and volatile products of combustion, and so I prevent the formation of smoke.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The arrangement of the fan G or its equivalent and the inlet-openings a, a ot' the airbox B, substantially as herein described, in relation to the upright steam-radiators A A ofan upparatusfor condensing steam and heating air, whereby there is produced .over the surfaces of the said radiators an artificial up- Ward circulation in which the natural upward circulation is taken advantage of, substantially as herein set forth.

ADDISON G. FLETCHER.

Vitnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, J.AW. CooMBs. 

